Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir returned to Lahore amid tight
security after being given permission to return home by London police.

The players were due to land during the early hours of this morning, a move timed to cut down the chances of any demonstrations from angry Pakistani supporters.

Earlier in the week, Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was jeered by a large crowd when he returned home from London.

The start of the Islamic holiday of Eid ul-Fitr will also ensure the city is quieter than normal, which will suit three men who have been pilloried in their home country, where there have been calls for life bans if found guilty and where a donkey daubed with their names was pelted with rotten tomatoes.

The trio were questioned for nine hours last week in connection with an alleged fixing ring exposed by the News of the World.

A fourth player, the left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz, remains with the one-day squad and is due to be questioned by police on Tuesday.

The International Cricket Council has suspended Butt, Asif and Amir under its code of conduct and will establish an independent tribunal once they have lodged a reply to the charges.

They were allowed to return home only after the police were given written confirmation by the Pakistan interior minister, Rehman Malik, that they would return to this country if needed for further questioning.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police said they will “return to assist the Metropolitan Police Service inquiry in due course”.

Butt and Asif both live in Lahore but Amir is from a small town in the Punjab. All three are expected to spend the weekend with their families before returning to Lahore, where they may face further questions from the Pakistan authorities.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistan High Commissioner, on Friday reiterated his stance that the players could be the victims of a set-up.

“Initially there was very great anger but once they offered themselves to be independently interrogated and claimed they were innocent, people understood that and realised there could be a set-up,” he said.

“The ICC will look into the charges. There is a long way to go, they’ve got to prove they are guilty. Pakistan will conduct an independent inquiry once the Metropolitan Police investigation is over.”

The ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit will not interview the players until the police investigation has ended.

Cricket’s links with match-fixing spread to Sri Lanka on Friday when it was announced that fast bowler Dilhara Fernando had reported approaches from bookmakers to the ICC.

Fernando was interviewed by investigators from the ACSU during Sri Lanka’s tour to Pakistan, a trip that ended when the team were attacked by terrorists in Lahore.